AGFORCE Queensland has come to the support of the approval of a Cape York development application following calls from environmental groups to stop the project.

The development, on Olive Vale Station near Laura, includes the selective clearing of less than 10 per cent of the land held in the North West region by the owner and would be used to grow sorghum and other grain products to support cattle grazing.

In last night's report the Wilderness Society questioned the rate at which approval was granted with Deputy Premier Jackie Trad ordering an investigation into the process.

However, AgForce General President Grant Maudsley said the approval not only appeared to have been granted in the ordinary and regulated timeframe but the development's planning and design had been based on a careful assessment of primary production and environmental outcomes.

"Under the government's own rules applications of this type must have been processed within 30 days of lodgement," Mr Maudsley said.

"In this case, we understand the Department actually requested an extension to that which was happily granted by the landholder, so to say this approval has been expedited simply does not make sense.

"Furthermore, suggestions this approval was rushed through and granted just days before the State Election earlier this year also holds little merit given the approval process is strictly undertaken by the State Development and Referral Agency only, with final signoff given by the department's Director-General so that it is not subject to political whim or interference.

"It is also important to note all water courses and wetlands of significance have been mapped out of the project area following a comprehensive onsite audit by the Department."

Mr Maudsley said this was yet another attack from the extreme conservation movement which failed to recognise there is a need for the agriculture sector to have adequate tools to be able to produce food for our communities.

"In this case we are talking about less than 10 per cent of the land owned by Mr Ryan being managed for a return of up to 100 jobs for local communities," he said.

"Furthermore, this landholder is a highly responsible producer who voluntarily participates in environmental stewardship programs such a Grazing BMP which benchmarks environmental performance and the Reef Rescue Program which fences off waterways flowing into the Great Barrier Reef.

"What must be understood is that as the world population booms the need for food will also grow rapidly and this food must be produced - we simply cannot have one without the other.

"To think it is possible to exist in a world where we have a product like bread, wool or meat without having to engage in the process of producing it is preposterous.

"Developments like this allow us to concentrate that food production on smaller areas and to be more efficient in our processes.

"We can either produce this food here in our own backyard where we know it is clean and safe and grown using the most sustainable practices in the world or we can allow other countries which are 50 years behind us agricultural practices to fill this space and have serious environmental impacts.

"We look forward to seeing common sense prevail through the investigation by the Department."

Ends

AgForce media and communications:
Stacey Milner  0418 733 102 or milners@agforceqld.org.au
Nadine Long 0427 626 853 or longn@agforceqld.org.au